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7.11.2016

iOS 10's New Lock Screen Defeats Its Original Purpose

Uncharacteristic Privacy Oversight Front and Center in iOS 10

With Apple’s iOS 10 on the horizon, the lock screen is about to get a lot more important for a plurality of users. iOS 10 put the lock screen, which has not seen a major revamp since the design language change introduced in iOS 7, front and center. This new implementation turns the lock screen into a more powerful Notification Center, essentially dialing up the Android approach on version 4.4 KitKat and later.

What Google and Apple are forgetting is the single purpose of the lock screen; it’s a screen meant to lock you out until you authenticate to the system, whether that be through your fingerprint, a PIN or password, swiping on a picture, or having the front-facing camera snap a pic of your face.

Being able to access your calendar, the weather, and messages without going directly into the app is useful, but that’s what notifications (the kind you swipe down for) and widgets are for. Displaying your sensitive information without authentication favors ease-of-use over privacy. The whole reason there is a lock screen is that so if someone picks up your phone, your personal information isn’t at their fingertips.

It’s ridiculous that Apple thinks its users can’t be bothered to unlock their phone to access their notifications. This “improvement” is a solution in search of a problem.